3. Road tripping. I love driving... getting in the car, turning up the music, and just going. When the weather starts warming and drying, as it is now, I get antsy to take the roof off of my little convertible and take a long drive in the sun, working on my freckle collection, not to mention my windblown big hair. Now if we can just do something about these ridiculous gas prices

4. How much I loved crafting as a child. I had my teeny little hands into everything that could be cut, glued, painted, folded, stitched, sketched, etched, embossed, decoupaged, and so on.

The awesome Cathy Callahan from Cathy of California has written a book (releasing next week) all about the groovy crafts that I grew up with. It looks amazing AND... it's endorsed by Amy Sedaris.

5. People who smoke cigarettes and hold their smoking ciggy at arms length out the car window so that the smoke wafts into my car, and I am thinking... "Yeah it IS pretty stinky, I can see why you'd want it as far away from you as possible." I totally respect a smokers right to smoke. And I don't intend to judge them for it. I just really don't wanna inhale it.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

The super sweet and adorable Julie over at Restless Hearts is one of my newest pen pals. Check out what the mailman brought me from darling Julie... a sweet little envelope with some R-rated spoke cards (even though I don't even own a bike at present). You can see the ones that Julie has on her bike in this blog post.

The envelope was a little puffy for just a note and some 70's soft-core p o r n. "Gee what else is in there?" you may be asking... this amazing breakfast plate that Julie whipped up! How did she know that I was craving a hearty helping of steak and eggs?!

discovering my breakfast

I haven't decided what I am going to stitch this tasty breakfast onto yet. Maybe a hoodie, or one of my old punky/thrashed cardigans (i have a weird thing for old cardigans that have been poorly stitched back together like frankenstein). Perhaps I will sew it onto a pillow cover so that I can lay my face down into my food. OR... how about I put it onto one of the sassy new skirts that I plan to make so that I can wear my food around town?

the spoke cards: get it? ride? bicycle... it's punny.

in effort to not offend anyone I added the sunburst over the naughty bits.
& i do hope that no one was offended.

Have you received anything good in the mail recently? Leave me a comment and tell me about it.

❤ -t

& speaking of awesome things + the Restless Hearts blog...

just a reminder that Saturday is the last day to enter the giveaway over Yonder to win one of my Hip-to-be-Square journals.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

As the sun comes back out to play I have warm weather clothes on my mind...

My brain begins at shorter skirts with a certain dash of flounce and flow, then it zigs and zags on over to romper style dresses with big big patch pockets... Next I can hear my bank account chuckle heartily. But then... I recall that in addition to hoarding yarn and vintage buttons, I have an embarrassing amount of fabric for a girl who spends 60% of her life sewing paper.

I started excavating the fabric buried in wardrobe bins under my bed. I haven't purchased fabric in at least 5 years, if not longer. I haven't thoroughly looked through my fabric collection anytime recently. I know... lame. But I have tons of it, and I am planning to use it to make some seasonally delicious duds to wear. So back to the excavation... Holy 101 Dalmatians Batman! I have a reedonk amount of polka dotted fabric. The photos below are just a very few of the polka dots that currently live neatly folded in bins beneath my bed.

polka dot parade

I will be employing begging for the assistance of the enormously talented seamstress, Honey Cooler Handmade, to get me comfortably up to speed with the long abandoned craft of sewing fabric again. My history with sewing garments is limited to simple wrap skirts and pajama pants. Anything with a zipper, dart, pleat, sleeve, or gathered elastic will send me screaming into the night.

really... how much polk dot can one girl's wardrobe get away with?

Other patterns that I obsess over:: houndstooth, skinny stripes, gingham, & most plaids

Is there a specific pattern that has seen more than it's fair share of your closet space? Perhaps a certain color is stealing your fashion show?

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Last week one of my new Twitter pals, Nicole {@lovelygirl}, asked if I would consider doing a guest post for her blog. She also asked one of my favorite longtime Twitter pals Samantha {@SSVintage}. We wondered that to write about. We quickly settled on the topic of cats. Mine would be from a West Coast perspective, and Samantha's would be East Coast.

I was feeling a little overwhelmed as the weekend approached so I asked Rosco to please write the post. After all, it was going to be about him. He obliged, but strayed from the West Coast perspective that was originally planned. Cats... there just ain't no telling 'em what to do.

Head on over to Nicole's blog, The Assorted Thoughts of a Scatter-Brain to read Mister Coltrane's very first guest post. There are a couple of photos... and frankly more writing than we thought he could muster on a lazy holiday weekend. And be sure to tune in later today for Samantha's post on her amazing feline menagerie. (and check out Samantha's pretty blog)

2. Why do cats insist upon running all over the house whilst horfing up hairballs? I mean... come on Dude just stay put, and preferably take that action onto the kitchen or bathroom floor... and not on the couch or rugs. Do dogs do this too? Do dogs get hairballs?

3. I love repotting my houseplants. I love the feeling of clean soil all over my hands.

4. One surefire way to make something sound old is to refer to it as "Newfangled". As in...

"How very nice that you have one of those newfangled iPad 2's."

You may as well be wearing dungarees as you say it.

5. I have a massive crush on this photo from the raw judita website. Just look at that photo!

My entire body feels yummy and amazing just reading this website.

Although I don't foresee a completely raw diet in my immediate future, I do want to institute some clean food practices into my regular way of eating. I was gluten free for almost a year and I felt awesome!

I totally believe that our bodies (and minds) contain everything that we need to heal ourselves... all that we need is clean food, a positive mindset, and some movin and groovin (exercise). I also believe that when prepared the right way... super healthy food can be totally orgasmic to your taste-buds.

I have been gearing up to do a detox/cleanse again. (let's not bring up last weekend's berry pie or the above pictured pork illustration that I so highly covet for my kitchen walls) I will eat what most would consider a pretty strict diet for about a month. I am sure that I will be talking about it here as I go along.

6. Kale chips. I have always enjoyed munching on them, but as of late, I am all about making them at home. My fave recipe so far is for the Sea Salt & Vinegar variety, thy are just as yummy as salt & vinegar potato chips. Next on my list are kale chips with toasted sesame oil and gluten free soy sauce.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

I baked kale chips for the first time. If you have no idea what I am talking about... read this. Mine came out ok, not great and not not horrible. I will definitely make them again with some modifications... like reading the link that I just gave before I get started.

In all these years of playing around on Etsy I have never curated a treasury... until yesterday. I've been featured in many wonderful treasuries, but never sat down and made one. Much like a tasty batch of kale chips, they're highly addictive. I made one. Fifteen minutes later I made a second one. Ten minutes following that, I made a third. I found this awesome tool for posting treasuries onto your blog or website. Everything is a clickable link: titles, photos, shop names, etc. May I suggest clicking the title of the treasury to take you to the page on Etsy where in my opinion it looks better... i.e. bigger.

I've had over 100 views on the first one that I made,"The Mod Squad of Color"! I'd love your feedback on any, or all of them! Here they are in chronological order::